Ties, Rails, and Telegraph Wires: Railroads and Communities in Montana and the West

Ties, Rails, and Telegraph Wires combines literary memories, historic research, and knowledge of railroad operations with historic photographs to celebrate railroads in Montana and the West. It describes the lives and tasks of railroad workers and the services provided by the railroad to communities and the region.

The railroad brought more to Montana and the West than passengers and a quicker way to get back to “civilization.” The coming of the new “iron horse” revitalized existing towns, created new ones, and brought new jobs on the trains and in the communities through which it passed.

Ties, Rails, and Telegraph Wires provides a window into the lives of the railroad workers and local people―all who lived with the railroad and relied on the employment and services it offered. Meet the engineers, firemen, conductors, water tank operators, station agents, telegraphers, and section crews, as well as the town folk who came to count on the railroad for transportation near and far, sending and receiving freight, and moving the U.S. Mail.

The book includes stories about the railroad told by such western writers as Ivan Doig, Mary Clearman Blue, and Alice Munro, and features dozens of railroad-related historic photographs. Let Ties, Rails, and Telegraph Wires put a face and a place to “Waiting for a Train.”

Softcover, 216 pages.